the way it was
by paperplanet
Summary: He fell in love with his best friend's girl. They kissed, laughed, and smiled. They kissed, laughed, smiled, and expected him to smile too. But that was just the way it was. Wally/Artemis, Dick/Artemis.


**Disclaimer: Do not own Young Justice.**

* * *

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He fell in love with his best friend's girl.

They kissed, laughed, and smiled. They kissed, laughed, smiled, and expected him to smile too.

But that was just the way it was.

* * *

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She was pretty. With golden hair shining under the sun light and that smirk reserved for him only, it was impossible not to her like her. But he did not like her because she was his best friend's girl. (And he was not the type of guy who liked someone just because she's pretty. Also there was the other thing about her being his best friend's girl too.)

She called him Baywatch, Wallman, and other nicknames that he deemed unworthy for himself, and he called her Arty because he had no other idea what to call her (don't tell her that) but she didn't like it so he called her that all the time. She smacked the back of his head and he yelled at her for that. He insulted her choice of outfit and she insulted his eating habits. He laughed at her when she slipped on ice and he fell because she pushed him.

Because there's no way he had any feelings for Artemis Crock, ever. (Except of antipathy, lots of it.)

(he tried not to notice how her eyes sparkled when she laughed, how she pursed her lips when she's in doubt, how her fingers curled when she's mad, how her eyes narrowed when she's upset, how she liked her coffee black, how she loved to read John Green's the fault in our stars because her copy was so worn out, and how she loved to savor every moment when she's eating chocolate but eventually he noticed them anyway.)

But then suddenly she was laughing at something he said and his heart fluttered and he thought _Crap,_ because either he was about to have a heart attack or Wally West actually liked Artemis Crock.

...perhaps he should go to the nearest hospital before the heart attack actually happened.

After all, damn it, he couldn't like his best friend's girl. She was his best friend's girl and that was a reason enough.

* * *

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Nightwing—aka Dick Grayson was sunshine and rainbows when he's with her.

Or rather, as cheerful and happy as a Batman's prodigy could be, he supposed.

His best friend grinned and there was this spark in his eyes that Wally hadn't seen for years. And he bit the inside of his cheek to refrain himself from frowning as the black haired guy held her hand. Because Dick Grayson was his best friend, and he's happy. So he should be happy too, right?

But he didn't feel happy and felt like banging his head on the wall every time his best friend called her babe.

He was the worst best friend ever.

(_But there was nothing he could do about that.)_

* * *

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There was the sound of someone hitting something repeatedly—angrily, brutally.

If curiosity could really kill the cat, Wally would have been dead for a long time now.

But he followed the noise anyway, lazily clutching a bag of potato chips on one hand. Curious green eyes stared at the figure who was throwing kicks and punches at the near death dummy. (Or maybe the dummy was already dead, he couldn't tell.)

"Artemis?"

The girl stopped her beating and stared at him, hands still raised in the position to attack. "What do you want?"

(Her grey eyes were staring at his and no, it didn't make his heart race, not at all_. He was such a fucking horrible liar.)_

"I was merely curious of why you would choose to kill a nice and innocent doll on such a shiny day," he took a several steps closer, trying his best to look as carefree as he could. He felt awkward and his posture seemed wrong, his words seemed forced and how could she have such effects on him? "Should I call the Justice League to the rescue?"

She rolled her eyes, and he was worried he had said something wrong—because he never knew himself whenever he's around her. "Go away, Baywatch. I'm not in the mood."

He would have begged for apologies instantly if he did not recognize the half-hearted tone in her words.

"Seriously, Crock—something wrong?"

She must have detected the worry in his voice because she scrunched her nose but didn't sound as angry as she was before. "Nothing, Wallman."

She bent down to grab a bottle of water and he opened his bag of potato chips to busy himself.

"Is it your dad?"

She let out a dry laugh, throwing the empty bottle of water to the air and kicked it before it landed on the ground. He grabbed a handful of chips and shoved it in mouth, he ate whenever he was anxious, angry, sad, or plain hungry.

Right now he's super anxious.

She tends to do that to him. She made him so damn nervous all the time.

"I guess it's a no, uh—your mom? Green arrow?"

She threw her hands up in the air, exasperated. "It's him, dammit. Now, please shut up."

He stopped eating, an eyebrow raised at her. "Him?"

"Your bloody best friend," she spat out angrily, crossing her arms.

Oh,_ him_.

Right. _His_ best friend.

"What did that idiot do this time?" He asked, sitting on the bench in the corner of the room. Of course it had to be him, what was he kidding?

She walked up to the speedster, throwing herself to sit beside him without knowing it made his fingers itched to have her so close and yet she was so far away. Her blond locks fell down her shoulders smoothly as she moved and covered her face with her palms, groaning.

"Sometimes I feel like I don't know him—he's just! Ugh! He's so secretive all the time and I want nothing than to strangle him—," she sighed and pursed her lips. "I don't know...I just...sometimes I'm not sure about all of this. Am I doing the right thing? With him—I mean, I...what am I supposed to do?"

He would be lying if he say it didn't make his heart jumped in joy. He would be lying if he said he didn't have this tiny (or maybe huge) flutter of hope in his stomach.

Scenarios flew in his head, probably it was a result of playing those video games on lazy Sundays—but either way he knew his words would be fatal then. He could easily tell her that she was doing everything wrong, that she was not meant to be with _his_ best friend—and he knew she would believe his words.

He wanted so badly to scream how he loved her—had _his_ best friend told her that? Not that he knew of. He loved her. He loved her.

_He fucking loved his best friend's girl_.

He knew the right words, of course. He couldn't count how many times he had recited moments like this in his overactive imagination. He knew sweet, cool, blunt, funny, awkward, and other different words to say in this situation with her—but...

"You better hope Batman didn't hear that part about strangling his prodigy, it would be dangerous for your life," was what he had said instead. His tongue felt numb, but the words he needed to say slipped from the tip of it anyways. He silently begged himself not to say it, but there was no stopping himself. "Look—Artemis, I know that he can be such a jerk sometimes," he remembered all those times when the dark haired kid (yes, the crush started years ago) would call him in the middle of the night to talk about her, using words that Wally was sure he had never heard of. "But he's my best friend. And I know he makes stupid decisions sometimes," he was always such a happy kid—Wally sometimes even forgot that he was an orphan. But his best friend was happiest whenever he's with her. "But he loves you. He loves you more than anything—I can guarantee that. Sure, he doesn't express it with words, and it's weird considering he has the dictionary memorized but anyways—you...," he swallowed, because the words tasted bitter but she didn't need to know that. No one needed to know that. "You are making the right choice."

Her face lit up with a smile, the smile he loved because it could make his worst days turned into his happiest. And he knew he sounded cheesy and horrible but that was just the way it was.

"You know, Wallman. Sometimes I understand why he likes to keep you around," she playfully punched his shoulder, grinning. "You're a great friend, Wally."

He laughed. And the laughter was sincere—because her words and the world in general was being funny. Finally the universe had decided to rub it all in his face, huh?

He guessed he deserved it.

So he smiled, and ate another potato chip though he felt like puking. "I know."

* * *

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"Dude!"

He looked up to see Nightwing leaning on his window sill—he guessed he should probably ask how the hell did he come in but he knew it would be pointless.

"Uh—why can't you just knock?" He rolled over on his bed lazily. He didn't feel like doing anything. And this was probably what he wanted to do least.

"You seem underwhelmed," the dark haired guy mused, chuckling.

"And you seem overwhelmed," he retorted, throwing his pillow at the intruder. "Too much sunshine can kill someone."

Dick effortlessly caught the pillow and his face turned serious.

"I need to know something, KF."

"Huh?"

"What did you say to Artemis?"

At the mention of her name, he perked up and his body screamed of protest at the sudden movement. "Uh—nothing?"

The dark haired guy laughed,"Don't worry, I'm not here to kill you. Maybe someday when it comes to that, but not right now."

"Ha-ha. Very funny."

"Whatever it was that you said to her, dude, I want to thank you," Nightwing said, shrugging. "You are really the best best-friend anyone could ask for, you know."

Dammit, what was it with the universe rubbing it all in his face?

"You're welcome, I guess." He waved a hand in the air to emphasize that it was nothing. "What's with the fight anyway?"

"I asked her to move in."

The world couldn't be any more cruel to him.

"Uh—what?"

He sounded strangled and choked, there was this gut wrenching feeling inside his stomach and his head started to spin as his heart chanted that _no, this can't be happening_.

"I asked her to move in and she freaked out—I got this nice home in Palo Alto and...I don't know, it seemed to be the right thing to do then," his best friend said, smiling. "But whatever you said to her seemed to have calmed her down. She said yes."

That's why he put on this fake happy smile he had worn for years and said, "Congratulations dude, that's great and I'm happy for you."

Because he fell in love with his best friend's girl.

And we all knew karma would find him eventually.

* * *

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He fell in love with his best friend's girl.

They kissed, laughed, and smiled. They kissed, laughed, smiled, and expected him to smile too.

But that was just the way it was.

_(And he tried not to scream as his best friend kissed the girl he's in love with.)_

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**A/N: This is just plain horrible but this idea was stuck in my head I'm desperate to write this down though I don't really have the time so here it is one rushed, ooc, messy grammar oneshot. Thanks for reading and do please leave a review. Thanks agaaaain.**


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